A thousand apologies for skipping a day’s pondering, but my energies have been focused on a screenplay version of an audio drama I did a couple of years ago called Denial. It’s a mockumentary about a Jewish holocaust denier, long estranged from his family, whose sister comes to tell him to come home to make his peace with his Alzheimer’s ridden father, a survivor of Mauthausen, while his old man still has memories of his children.  I’m coming up on the writing of the climactic scene–the reckoning between the denier and his father–and even though I wrote this scene two years ago for the radio version, it’s troubling me a lot more this time around, probably because this time I’m writing it in the aftermath of my Dad’s stroke. So far I’ve written right up to the edge. I’m aiming to push through later tonight.

So, on to the pondering.

I’ll be working during the debates. I might catch them later, but I probably won’t unless the news stories say that something shocking happened. I’m skeptical that any of these debates will make a difference in November. I know who I’m voting for, so I fail to see why I should inflict any more of Mitt Romney’s message or personality on myself.

Why Obama’s winning: a lengthy read but a good one.

I saw Arbitrage a couple of days ago, thanks to iTunes. Richard Gere is at his best in movies where he either gets away with murder or helps someone who does. It’s also a story about the power of money that reminded me of something I said to a student who asked me why we don’t go back to a barter based economy: “Because if I have something you want and you offer me a chicken for it, you run the risk that I don’t want a chicken. But it’s hard  for me to turn down money because money represents the ability to get whatever I want most.” I do think that, for lower budget thrillers and independent films, simultaneous theatrical and online releases are going to become a lot more common. It’s probably the only way some of these films can generate revenue outside metropolitan areas.

By the way, if you want to hear the original Denial, starring a lovely group of actors I worked with a couple of years ago, click here.

Later.